The present invention relates to a tremolo system for stringed musical instruments, particularly guitars, and to a related adjustment device for the tremolo system.
The tremolo effect consists of a pitch variation of the notes produced by the instrument. As an example hereinbelow, the tremolo system for a solid body electric guitar is described. By "guitar body" is meant the body of the guitar itself, or any structure rigidly attached to it. Furthermore the term "fulcrum" is used to designate the support points of rotation axes in the guitar structure.
A known tremolo system or device comprises a unique block which supports the saddles over which the strings pass, the anchor points of the strings and a control arm for the tremolo device. The entire block is "floating" on a single fulcrum in a balance position which results from an equilibrium between tension of the strings and the spring action of one or more countertension springs. The fulcrum usually is formed by two or more screws or pivots fixed to the guitar body.
The prior art tremolo system has the following problems:--the tension variation of a string, for example, during the tuning phase, alters the balance and affects the other strings inversely;--some musical techniques of playing the guitar with the prior art tremolo system produce "out of tune" notes;--part of the force applied to the strings (by the player) to make them vibrate is wasted on the springs;--the transmission of the vibrations to the guitar body is reduced by the fact that the system is "floating" and has a mechanical coupling with the instrument entrusted only to the fulcrum; the total resonance, the timbre characteristics and the sound sustained are penalized.
Some prior art systems have attempted to overcome some of these problems, but they have introduced other problems such as increased complexity, set up difficulties, instability, a worsening of acoustics as a trade off for a gain in the stability, and vice versa.
Some systems need a specific block action during use. Others, when operated in the ascending direction, pull the strings, making them slide over the saddles; because of this, friction and noise result, and they damp a part of the vibrating string, with a loss of sustained sound and harmonics. Furthermore, because of their nature, these systems cannot be equipped with locking saddles (that is having the anchor point of the string), or with any kind of fine tuning mechanism. In the following is described a system which overcomes these problems without important collateral inconveniences.